1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to device and apparatus and methods for producing white light from luminescent particle excitation and emission.
2. Description of the Related Art
The choice of general illumination sources for commercial and residential lighting is generally governed by a balance of energy efficiency and the ability to faithfully produce colors as measured by the color rendering index (CRI). Existing fluorescent lighting is known to be economical from an energy consumption point of view, and is a widely used form of lighting in office buildings and retail stores. Incandescent light is also widely used and is recognized as having excellent spectral quality and the ability to accurately render colors. This high spectral quality is derived from the hot filament, which serves as a blackbody radiator and emits light over many wavelengths, similar to the sun. However, incandescent lighting suffers from very low energy efficiency. Solid-state lighting (SSL) is an alternative general illumination and lighting technology that promises the energy efficiency of fluorescent lights and the excellent spectral qualities of incandescent lighting. Typically, commercially available SSL lamps consists of a light emitting diode (LED) surrounded by a phosphor composed of large particles usually larger than 2 μm. The light emitted from the LED is of sufficient energy to cause the phosphor to fluoresce and emit one or more colors of visible light. The most common example of commercial SSL products consists of a blue LED (typically 460 nm) surrounded by a yellow phosphor, such as cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG:Ce), that emits lights in a broad band centered at 550 nm. The combination of nominally yellow light emission from the phosphor and blue light from the LED produces a light source that has a generally white appearance. Alternatively, an LED that emits in the ultraviolet (<400 nm) can be used to excite a blend of red, green, and blue phosphors.
Although luminaires utilizing either fluorescent, SSL, or incandescent lamps are constantly being introduced to the market with efficiency improvements, they have a basic flaw: the materials typically used in their construction absorb a large fraction of the light produced by the lamps in the luminaire. Therefore, more luminaires and lamps, requiring more energy, are necessary to achieve the lighting levels specified by electrical codes and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) guidelines.
In addition, while the light intensity from lamps used in current solid-state lighting products is sufficient for applications such as flashlights, it is considered too low and the emission cone is considered too narrow for use in general illumination applications such as room lighting. Hence, there is a need for solid-state light sources that are capable of providing high intensity white light emissions over a large enough area for use in general illumination.
One approach to improve the performance of SSL devices has been to use nanoparticles such as quantum dots as secondary converters to produce white light. “Quantum Dots Lend New Approach to Solid-State Lighting,” Sandia National Laboratory press release Jul. 24, 2003. This approach incorporates quantum dots into a polymer used to encapsulate the light emitting diode (LED) and essentially creates a three-dimensional dome of quantum dots around the LED die. While this method has been successful in producing white light, the three-dimensional dome structure places large quantities of quantum dots in non-optimal positions around the LED and creates potential quantum dot agglomeration issues.
Previously, polymer/quantum dot compound nanofibers have been obtained from electrospinning of the polymer/quantum dot composite solutions, as disclosed in Schlecht et al., Chem. Mater. 2005, 17, 809-814. However, the nanofibers produced by Schlecht et al. were on the order of 10-20 nm in diameter, in order to produce quantum confinement effects. The size range of the nanoparticles and nanofibers disclosed therein is not advantageous for conversion of a primary light into secondary light emission across the white light spectrum.
Lu. et. al., Nanotechnology, 2005, 16, 2233, also reported the making of Ag2S nanoparticles embedded in polymer fiber matrices by electrospinning. Once again, the size range of the nanoparticles and nanofibers shown therein is not advantageous for conversion of a primary light into secondary light emission across the white light spectrum.
As described in U.S. application Ser. No. 11/559,260, filed on Nov. 13, 2006, entitled “LUMINESCENT DEVICE,” referenced above, highly-efficient, light-producing sheets have been developed based on a combination of photoluminescent particles and polymer nanofibers. These luminescent sheets can be used in a white-light solid-state lighting device in which the sheets are illuminated by a blue light-emitting diode (LED) light source and the sheets will transform the incident blue light into, for example, yellow light. An appropriate mixture of yellow and blue light will produce the appearance of white light.
One particular advantage of these light-producing sheets is that photoluminescent particles are suspended in air on the nanofibers instead of being contained in a bulk material with a relatively high index of refraction. This arrangement prevents light from being trapped by total internal reflection, as occurs when the particles are encapsulated within bulk materials.
Other work (listed below and incorporated herein in their entirety by reference) has studied fibrous or porous nanofibers in optical configurations where the nano-scale optical properties of the nanofibers were observed.    1. P. Vukusic, B. Hallam, and J. Noyes, Science 315, 348 (2007);    2. J. L. Davis, A. L. Andrady, D. S. Ensor, L. Han, H. J. Walls, U.S. Patent Application U.S. 20080113214 (submitted November 2006); H. J. Walls, J. L. Davis, and D. S. Ensor, PCT Patent Application WO2009/032378 (submitted June 2007); and J. L. Davis, H. J. Walls, L. Han, T. A. Walker, L A. Tufts, A. Andrady, D. S. Ensor, in Seventh International Conference on Solid State Lighting, edited by I. T. Ferguson, N. Narendan, T. Taguchi, and I. E. Ashdown, (SP1E Proceedings 6669) pp. 666916-1-666916-9;    3. J. Yip. S.-P. Ng, and K.-H. Wong, Textile Research Journal 79, 771 (2009);    4. U.S. Pat. No. 5,892,621 Light reflectant surface for luminaires;    5. U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,510 Very thin highly light reflectant surface and method for making and using same;    6. U.S. Pat. No. 7,660,040 Diffuse reflective article;    7. U.S. Patent Application Publ. No. 2009/0137043 Methods for modification of polymers, fibers, and textile medium;    8. U.S. Patent Application Publ. No. 2010/0014164 Diffuse reflector, diffuse reflective article, optical display, and method for producing a diffuse reflector;    9. U.S. Patent Application Publ. No. 20100238665 Diffusive light reflectors with polymer coatings;    10. U.S. Patent Application Publ. No. 20100239844 Diffusive light reflective paint composition, method for making paint composition, and diffusely light reflecting articles;    11. U.S. Pat. No. 5,672,409, Polyester thin film reflector for a surface light source;    12. U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,510, Very thin highly light reflectant surface and method for making and using same;    13. US Patent Application 2010/0014164, Diffuse reflector, diffuse reflective article, optical display, and method for producing a diffuse reflector;    14. U.S. Patent Application 20100238665, Diffusive light reflectors with polymer coatings; and    15. U.S. Patent Application 20100239844, Diffusive light reflective paint composition, method for making paint composition, and diffusely light reflecting articles.